Circlips are at both their ends provided with small openings in which, when the circlip is to be mounted or dismounted, engagement pins of a pair of pliers may be introduced in order to spread these ends (in circlips mounted on the outside of a cylindrical body) or to bring them closer together (in circlips mounted on the inside of a cylindrical opening).
To avoid the necessity of always having ready two different pairs of pliers, viz. one pair where the pins approach when the handles are moved closer together, and one pair where the pins spread farther apart when the handles are moved closer together, readjustable pairs of pliers have already been proposed in which both ways of operation can be obtained as actually needed.
One known pair of pliers of this kind comprises two jaws which at their ends are terminated by the engagement pins, and two handles of which each handle is rigidly connected with one of the jaws. The two rigid handle jaw units thus obtained are pivoted one to another with the aid of a pivot pin which is affixed to one of the units and which may be introduced into one of two holes adjacently arranged in the other unit. Depending on which hole is chosen, the engagement pins either approach one another or spread farther apart one from another, when the two handles are approached one to another.